William b



UNITE STATES ATENT FFlCE.

YVILLIAM B. KURTZ, OF GREENOASTLE, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE OROYVELL MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

TRACTION-ENGINE BOILER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 349,889, dated September 28. 1886.

Application filed July 24, 1886. Serial No. 208,945.

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, YVILLIAM B. KUR'rz, of Greencastle, county of Franklin, and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Traction-Engine Boilers, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, making part of this specification.

My invention relates to the steam-boilers of traction and road engines; and its object is to prevent the burning out of the crown-sheet of the fire-box, and also to prevent the mixture of water with the live steam supplied to the engine from the steam-dome, both of which defects are due to the fluctuations of waterlevel resulting from the irregular grades upon which this class of engines have to travel.

For the above purposes my invention consists, first, in the provision of aninternal shell either of cylindrical or gradually-dimi nishing diameter placed within the shell of the boiler; secondly, in the combination of an internal shell of diminished diameter located within the shell of the boiler anda fire-box, the crownsheet of which isinelined downwardly towardthe rear end of the boiler, andin combination with the boiler and its internal shell of a perforated pipe connected to the engine and located in thesteam-dome, and a bent pipe communicating with the interior of the steamdome, and also with the water-space of the boiler, all substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

In order that my invention may be readily un derstood,Iwill proceedto describe it with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the boiler of a traction-engine with my improvements applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical section of the same on the line x m of Fig. 1, the front of the fire-box being also shown partly in section. Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the internal shell. Fig. 4

5 is a rear end elevation of the said shell.

In the drawings, A designates the shell of the boiler of the traction-engine, said boiler being of the horizontal type.

B designates the fire box or furnace O, the

flash or fire tubes, and D the steam-dome. The shell is of the usual construction, being (No model.)

cylindrical in form, and having the head a and waterbox a, while the dome D, which is also of the usual construction, is placed about midway of the length of the boiler, as shown.

E designates the internal shell, which may be either of cylindrical or of truncated or frustoconical form, having the outwardlyextending flange e at its front end and the rearwardly-extending flange e at its rear end. This internal shell is located in the front end of the boiler, the flange 0 being bolted or riveted to the head a, and the flange 6 being bolted or riveted to the inner side of the shell A about midway between the sides of the dome D, thus forming an annular space, f, r between the two shells for the live steam. The internal shell, when made tapering, as shown, is preferably so placed in the boiler that its lower surface is horizontal and paral-j o lel with the bottom of the boiler, while its upper surface extends obliquely forward and downward from the top of the boiler-shell A.

\Vithin the steanrdome D is placed a pipe,

d, which communicates at its lower end with the steamspace f just forward of the flange 6, said pipe being open at its upper end. \Vithin this pipe at is placed a pipe, d, which extends out of thesteam-dome and communicates with the valve-chest of the engine. (Not shown.) The lower end of the inner pipe, (1, does not extend as far as the lower end of pipe d, and that portion of the pipe (1 which lies Within the pipe at is perforated, as shown.

G designates a tube, which is suitably Se cured within the boiler-shell A in such manner as to lie parallel with and close to the top of the same above the fire-box B. The rear end of the tube is open and its forward endis connected by an elbow or branch tube, 9, which 0 extends upward into the dome D just back of the flange e of shell E, the upper end of the tube 9 being also open.

The top or crown plate, I), of the fire-box B is inclined rearwardly and downwardly from 5 the front wall, Z), to the rear wall, I)", of said box, as shown.

Now, from the above description, it will be seen that when the engine is descending asteep grade the water-level does not fall below the [00 top of the fire-box, but remains always above it, as indicated by the broken line 1 1, owing to the fact that the surplus volume of water impinges against the upper face of the internal shell, and thus maintains the higher level as compared with the lower level indicated by the broken line 2 2, which the water would reach in the absence of the internalshell. It will also be seen that a constant dry steamspace is maintained around the internal shell, E, as shown at f, into which no water can enter, owing to the fact that the steam passes through tubes G g and pipe (1 into said steamspace, while the pipe (I, by being extended to near the top of dome D, serves to exclude water from said steam-space f, whether the boiler be on an upward or downward grade. The branch tube 9 passes through the shell A to a point about three-fourths the height of the dome, so as to always be above the waterlevel when the engine is moving over an incline.

It will be seen that the crown-sheet can never be burned out, because it is always covered by water, its downward and rearward inclination assisting in insuring this result. It will-also be seen that the steam supplied will always be perfectly dry and of maximum pressure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. A traction-engine boiler provided with the internal shell, forming a closed steam-space around said shell and within the boiler, substantially as described.

gradually-diminishing diameter located with- I in the front end of the boiler, and forming a steam-space within the boiler around said shell, an open pipe connecting said steam-space and the steam-dome, a perforated pipe entering'said open pipe and communicating with the engine, and a bent tube entering the steamdome and communicating with the water-space of the boiler, substantially as and for the purposes specified.

4. The combination, with the boiler A, its 5 dome D, and fire-boxB, of the frusto-conical shell E, having flanges e e, the rearwardly-inclined crown-sheet b, the pipes 01 d within the dome, and the pipe G, extending from the water-space into the dome, as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set ,my hand this 23d day of July, A. D. 1886.

WILLIAM B. KURTZ.

Witnesses:

J. R. METCALFE, LUTHER A. B. FLEMING. 

